Home
Search transcripts:    Advanced Search
Notable New     Yorkers
Select     Notable New Yorker

Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
Photo Gallery
Transcript

Part:         Session:         Page of 542

Scharrenbergs said, “Well, of course, I don't know it. I'm just saying it because I think he is. He acts like one.” He draw a conclusion from certain things. I remember that someone once said to me, “Only a Communist acts like that.” I answered, “The Clydeside workers all act like that and they aren't Communists. They're just ordinary British trade unionists.” He acted much more like a British trade unionist than he did like what I conceive a Communist to be. He was not an intellectual. All the Communists that I had had anything to do with in New York were these pseudo-intellectuals who mooned around in places and demonstrated.

So I was surprised at this. I thought it was all probably something phony. I thought that this man Milner had probably got hold of something that was pretty phony and might not stand up under examination. Still I realized that it was a very serious matter and that we had to watch our step and move with care because of the fact that he was a labor leader and we were the Labor Department. We thus must not let the other side of the house, the Immigration Service, run him out of the country unless there was a truly established violation of an existing and proper interpretation and application of the existing immigration law.





© 2006 Columbia University Libraries | Oral History Research Office | Rights and Permissions | Help